Mrs. Lefroy herself was a remarkable person. Her rare endowments of
goodness, talents, graceful person, and engaging manners, were sufficient
to secure her a prominent place in any society into which she was thrown;
while her enthusiastic eagerness of disposition rendered her especially
attractive to a clever and lively girl. She was killed by a fall from
her horse on Jane's birthday, Dec. 16, 1804. The following lines to her
memory were written by Jane four years afterwards, when she was thirty-
three years old. They are given, not for their merits as poetry, but to
show how deep and lasting was the impression made by the elder friend on
the mind of the younger:--
TO THE MEMORY OF MRS. LEFROY.
1.
The day returns again, my natal day;
What mix'd emotions in my mind arise!
Beloved Friend; four years have passed away
Since thou wert snatched for ever from our eyes.
2.
The day commemorative of my birth,
Bestowing life, and light, and hope to me,
Brings back the hour which was thy last on earth.
O! bitter pang of torturing memory!
3.
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